The prospect of a Gbagbo trial before the International Criminal Court may discourage the former president from surrendering, said David Shinn, a former U.S. ambassador to neighboring Burkina Faso. The prosecutor’s office of The Hague- based court said it has begun investigations of potential crimes in Ivory Coast.

Cocoa Crop

“Someone’s trying to find a place to dump him and give some sort of informal agreement not to put him before the ICC,” Shinn said in a phone interview from Washington. “If he’s convinced they are going to go after him he’ll hang on until the last dog dies.”